Free Haru
by Tohdoh
Summary: Haru is among the last of his kind: an orca-human shapeshifter. No wonder he loves water and seafood so much. When his abilities (and appetite) become harder to control, can he trust his friends with his secret? As Haru struggles to reconcile his human and orca identities, the solution lies in finding his "true pod."
1. Origin

**I used to be part of a year-round swim team and specialized in breastroke (like Nagisa) for many years, so I really enjoyed watching Free!. I recently finished season 1, and I'm relatively new to the anime. Even though I try my best, please go easy on me if I happen to make canon mistakes or the characters are OOC. I have not seen Eternal Summer, so I won't be including its plot. (I apologize for that.)**

**I'm aware that most Free! fanart has Haru associated with the dolphin, but frankly I find orcas more interesting, and a more suitable counterpart for Haru as we know him.**

**This is my first shot at writing both Free! and shounen-ai. Feedback or constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.**

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><p><strong>Free Haru (1)<br>Origin**

The stories, tales, and myths of shapeshifters have always captivated the imagination of mankind.

Human nature in of itself was still a mystery to ponder. Even more mysterious was animal nature. The idea of beings having both was fodder for fantastical tales told over fires, or written down with ink on the page. Unbeknowst to much of the world, Phasers were a reality. As their name implied, these remarkably unique changelings could phase between human and animal form at will. Much like having control of heads and tails of the same coin. What animal form the Phasers have inherited and passed down through generations boast incredible variety and diversity. Wolves, tigers, rabbits, snakes, sharks...the possibilities were endless. An ultimate tool for adaptation, Phasers could live among humans or animals, whatever they chose for optimal survival. The ability to change form is an instinct, and like all instincts, it can be difficult to control. Some Phasers lived and acted as animals for so long that they forgot how to revert to human form. On the other extreme, Phasers who lived as humans for too long struggled with the inner beast that threatened to burst out of its cage. Such Phasers who could not control their bestial urges were treated by the average human populace as being mentally ill or insane. The labels were bad enough, but their fates were worse.

With a rapidly dwindling population, and many of their brethren forgetting their ability and forsaking their heritage in captivity, orca Phasers were among the rarest...

* * *

><p>A terrible storm brewed. The sea bucked, reared, and roiled like an angry beast, tossed in the throes of lashing wind and rain.<p>

Haruka the young orca Phaser didn't stand a chance. He did his best to stick close to his pod, particularly to his mother, but the choppy waters proved too strong of a force to resist. A powerful surge of water sent Haruka flying back, and he was torn away from his pod, left to the mercy of the stormy sea.

The little orca couldn't get the slightest sense of up or down, let alone catch sight of any member of his pod. His clicking sounds of distress went unheard as thunder boomed and waves crashed overhead.

Since birth, Haruka had always been a strong swimmer. He could outswim other baby orcas and cut through the water with ease; the only thing that held him back was the simple fact that he was an orca, and not the water itself. But in this storm, all of Haru's strength meant absolutely nothing in the angry, mighty face of nature. The waves tossed him to and fro like a fish caught in the jaws of a hungry sea lion.

Haruka fought furiously with his beating tail to reach what he thought was the surface. The need for air burned in his lungs. Cold terror seized him as saltwater poured through his blowhole and choked him. Finally, as if by some miracle, Haruka broke through his head through the surface and gasped for air. No sooner had he done that, a huge wave swelled and snatched him in its grip. He was helpless as he was pulled upward, then sent tumbling as the wave reached its peak and collapsed. All he could see was a blur of dark blue and white.

Haruka saw no end to the storm, only the end of his life. His little body was pounded and battered by the storm-ridden sea, soon to go limp and lose his life any second now.

Then something else hit him. Wet sand. The waves heaved and sent him sprawling on the shore. Water spewed from his blowhole and he gasped. The storm continued to rage on overhead, sending wave after wave pounding his back and pushing him farther inland.

He raised his tail uselessly, then let it fall heavily onto the sand as his strength quickly left him. He couldn't believe he was alive. Beached, but alive. His stomach smarted from the impact, and Haruka's whole body feel like dead weight. Though he was alive, he hated it. He felt trapped, even mad at the sea for turning him over to be held prisoner on land. Haruka shivered as the wind buffeted his cold, wet body. He had to get out of this somehow. If he remained as an orca, he will die.

Suddenly a thought struck him like lightning. 'I'm a Phaser. I'm free to change if I wanted to.'

Despite knowing he was a Phaser, Haruka had never actually attempted to phase before. Born in the coast of Japan, Haruka had spent all of his short life up until now as part of the pod. Fish was bountiful at this time of the year, so the orca Phasers didn't see the need to set foot on the shore as humans. His mother never had the chance to teach him how to phase. His heart ached; she wasn't with him anymore. He lost her in the storm. He would have to do it all on his own.

Haruka gritted his teeth. 'Come on, orca body. Change to a human one!' He thought and thought as hard as he could. He had never even seen a human before; he had only heard of them as if they were a myth. But being part human ran in his blood, and little Haruka was determined to fish it out from the depths of his soul.

'I want to change. I want to live. I...I want to be _free_!'

The sheer willpower that set his mind and heart on fire instigated his transformation. Haruka felt his dorsal fin recede into his backbone. His face became smaller and round, his eyes coming closer together and messy black hair growing from his head. A nose appeared the same time his blowhole closed up. His flippers faded from black to a pale peachy color, and from broad fins to outstretched fingers. He watched and felt them extend as arms and shoulders grew from his upper torso. He shivered even more from the cold as he felt his body fat dwindle. Finally, he felt his tail split into a pair of skinny legs, the flukes shrinking into feet with wiggling toes. Awe and wonder filled his entire new human body.

'I did it. I phased.'

Haruka flexed his fingers, opening and closing them like the anemones he had seen on the coast. He clenched his jaw, feeling his now flattened teeth pressed against each other. Only one word rang clear in his mind.

'Move.'

Haruka struggled to obey the command he imposed on himself. He pushed up on his elbows and knees, overwhelmed by the strangeness and newfound power in his movements. He trembled and shook like a newborn deer. Then he heaved himself forward, just a few more inches into shore before he collapsed back on the sand. Despite this, elation soared in his chest. He couldn't even get on his feet, but that weak little movement alone was something he could never do in his orca form.

'I won't drown. I'm going to live. I'm free.'

With that last thought on his mind, Haruka's eyes fluttered shut as his consciousness ebbed away, like the waves pulling back under the dwindling storm.

* * *

><p>Ken and Sorae Nanase took their time on a slow stroll, hand-in-hand, with wet sand crunching under their sandals. The young couple, married for half a year now, always enjoyed walks on the beach. Most of the time they served as romantic eacapades, but lately they had been doing them out of solace.<p>

Ken looked down at his wife of six months, and the pain on Sorae's face was a sight he could hardly bear. The most recent miscarriage still took its toll on her. Every attempt the young couple made always ended in failure and tragedy. Looking at Sorae now, Ken came to the sad conclusion in his mind that there would be no next time. He had always wanted to start a family and raise children, with none other than his kind and lovely wife. But if striving for that goal meant bringing more pain and grief to Sorae, Ken would rather be childless for the rest of his life.

He squeezed her hand when he saw tears form in her eyes. Sorae leaned against him and pressed her cheek against his shoulder.

Her whisper was almost lost amid the waves. "What's wrong with me? Why can't I ever...?" A soft sob cut her off, and Ken pulled her into a comforting embrace.

"Please don't blame yourself, Sorae. It's not your fault." His throat clenched. "Sometimes these things happen. We don't know why, but they happen..." He placed a hand at the back of her head and kissed into her hair, whispering how much he still loved her, no matter what. Sorae pulled back to give him a loving, grateful gaze before the couple resumed walking down the shoreline.

After a mile of walking, Ken squinted into the distance. "Hey, I see something ahead. What's that on the sand?"

Sorae followed the direction of his gaze. A few more steps forward, and the two realized at the same time that what they saw was not driftwood at all.

The Nanases broke into a run. Sorae pressed a hand to her open mouth.

"Oh my God-!"

The prone figure lying on the sand appeared to be a young boy, around five or six years old. He was completely naked, his face and stomach planted in the sand and his limbs sprawled before him.

Ken wasted no time. He pulled off his rain jacket and enveloped the naked boy with it. He bent his head and pressed his ear to the boy's chest.

"I hear a heartbeat. He's alive!"

Relief and worry filled Sorae as she cradled the boy's prone form in her arms. With one hand she brushed aside his wet black bangs and felt his forehead.

"He's ice cold. What in the world happened?"

Her husband shook his head. "I've no idea. If he's been out here, it's a wonder that he survived last night's storm."

"His parents must be worried sick."

"Let's get him to the hospital first. We can worry about finding his parents after the doctors take care of him."

A soft moan made Ken and Sorae look down. The boy stirred weakly in Sorae's arms. His eyelids fluttered open to reveal eyes as blue as the sea. Only the urgency of contacting a hospital kept the couple from standing still in shock.

"You're going to be okay, sweetie," Sorae murmured. "We'll get you help soon."

Ken was on the phone, explaining the situation the best he could. His eyes kept darting between the boy and where he was walking. When he hung up, he said, "Don't worry, the ambulance will be here soon. We need to wait here so they can locate us."

Sorae nodded. She couldn't take her eyes off of the mysterious boy in her arms. Curiosity compelled her to softly ask: "What's your name? Could you at least tell us that?"

The boy's lips opened and closed, but no sound came out. Finally, the reedy call of an orca sounded from his throat, but Ken and Sorae didn't understand. They only looked down at him in confusion.

He blinked slowly. 'That's right. I'm human now. I need to make human sounds.'

Just as his will became action during his phase, his thoughts became words as he spoke for the first time.

"Ha...Haruka..."


	2. Becoming Human

**Free Haru (2)**

**Becoming Human**

The doctors were surprised to find that if little Haruka really did come from the sea, it was a huge stroke of fortune that he had washed ashore virtually uninjured. The boy was surprisingly calm, even as nurses had to perform blood tests and make sure he was stable. They had him stay for several nights, just in case. So far no one came to retrieve the boy, and Ken and Sorae grew worried.

"You think he may be an orphan?" Sorae murmured to her husband as they sat in the waiting room.

Ken furrowed his brow. "We don't know much about him, really. Doctors couldn't dig up any records on him. Not even a birth certificate. I heard that he can barely speak. At first the doctors thought it was because he was weak, but as days passed and he began to recover, they figured that it might just be the way he is." He stared at the tile floor and frowned. "A quiet little boy with no last name, and no parents..."

"Poor Haru..."

"Haru?"

Sorae chuckled. "I guess I got attached to him pretty quickly. I can't help but worry." She and Ken had been spending more time in the hospital than at home lately, for two reasons. One: the room reserved for the baby they desperately wanted was a painful reminder of what could have been, but only ended in tragedy. Two: the couple couldn't get out of their minds the boy they just rescued from the shoreline. For days they mulled over how he could have ended up there, and more importantly, where he could go when he recovered. So far they received no answers for either question.

Ken softly broke the silence between them. "I think we should go talk to him."

Sorae turned to him with a surprised expression. "Are you sure?"

"Maybe he can open up and make light of the situation. I wonder if he really is alone. I'm worried that no one has come to claim him yet."

"I'm worried, too..."

They rose together, walked down the hallway, and hesitantly entered Haruka's room. The dark-haired boy laid awake in his bed, his blue eyes transfixed on the fan attached to the ceiling. His gaze moved to the Nanases as they quietly came in.

"Hi there," Sorae said with as much soft warmth as she could muster. "Do you remember us?"

Learning what he had seen from interactions between doctors and nurses, Haruka substituted a "yes" with a little nod.

Sorae smiled. He may be quiet, like the doctors had said, but at least he could listen and understand.

"We found you alone on the shore," Ken said. "We wondered if you have any family out there who might come get you."

Haruka took a few seconds to ponder over this. The chances of finding his mother and his pod were incredibly slim. He knew from an early age how the worlds of humans and animals were vastly different, so he had doubts that the couple would believe his story if he told them about his true nature. With sorrow in his heart, Haruka came to the conclusion that his mother was as good as gone, wherever she was now. Finally, he said "No."

Ken and Sorae exchanged a concerned look. Meanwhile, Haruka stared down at his hands, clenching and unclenching them as he was still unused to the movements. Where could he go from here? He couldn't simply return to the ocean. It was a wild and merciless place, where survival of the fittest was the law that reigned supreme. Even the greatest predator of the ocean could become the prey if he was small enough. A lone, young orca like himself could easily fall prey to hungry sharks, more rough weather, or fishing boats whose nets could suffocate him, intentional or not. Haru was safer on land.

Sorae said with hope tinged in her tentative tone: "If you'd like...if you have nowhere else to go...you can come live with us. We'd love to have you as our son."

Haruka was surprised by the couple's kindness. He supposed it'd be rude and senseless of him to refuse. "...Thank you," he finally managed to say.

Ken and Sorae's eyes lit up with joy. Their problem had been resolved. The couple spent many nights taking care of legal paperwork before Haruka could be discharged from the hospital. The boy spent much of his time learning how to walk. The doctors had only assumed that he was weak from his ordeal during the storm. They had no idea that the concept of walking was completely strange and foreign to him. All his life up until now, the young Phaser swam in the water with his tail moving up and down. It took him a while to get used to how humans moved around. Over time he began to like the freedom of his new legs. He could do so much with just one, and even more with two. It was not uncommon for the adults to notice how he'd spend hours simply staring down at his bending knees, flexing feet, and curling toes. Once he got acquaintanted with walking like a normal human, Haruka could hardly keep still in bed. The doctors took this display of quiet energy and strength that the boy was read to go.

The day he was released from the hospital was also the day he officially became known as Haruka Nanase, affectionally called Haru by his new parents.

Sorae had to show Haru how to strap his seat belt. As Ken drove the car home, the two would often glance at Haru from the rearview mirror. The dark-haired boy acted as if he had never been in a car before, which was quite true. He sat straight in his seat and his hands clutched at the seat belt. His eyes were glued to the window. He looked more fascinated than scared. The young Phaser couldn't comprehend how he could move at such a fast speed without doing anything himself. In the ocean, it was sink or swim. He remembered his mother telling him how sharks always had to swim, or they'd sink and die if they stopped moving their tails. Haru lowered his gaze from the window to look at the couple who sat in front of him. He couldn't grasp how the car was moving so fast if they didn't appear to move at all. Then again, he couldn't see Ken's foot on the gas pedal, and even if he did, he still wouldn't understand. The car came to a slow stop in front of a garage. Just as Sorae had shown him, Haru made a deliberate effort of unfastening the seat belt and climbed out of the car.

"Well, this is our home," Ken stated. "I hope you'll like it here."

It was the first time Haru had ever seen a human house. Of all the flora and fauna in the ocean, only kelp and coral stuck to one place. Orcas were migratory animals that never stayed in one place for long, moving with the currents and wherever there was plenty of food. Haru wasn't sure how he'd feel about living in a human house. Then again, he didn't have much of a choice. It didn't seem that bad, either.

Ken pulled out the keys and unlocked the front door. "I want to test out the new grill we just bought. What do you say to grilled mackeral for dinner, Haru?"

The boy's eyes widened at the mention of mackeral. He didn't know that humans ate that kind of fish, too. The couple chuckled when the boy nodded vigorously.

"Okay, I'll go make dinner."

Sorae took Haru by the hand. "While he's doing that, I'll show you to the room you'll be having."

The boy let his adoptive mother lead him into a small room, which was painted in bright pastel colors and had a crib littered with stuffed toys.

Sorae made a sad smile. "My husband and I wanted to have a baby, but..." Sorae couldn't bring herself to finish, and she turned to her adopted son. "Anyways, I'll have everything moved out soon enough, so you can have a room of your own, okay?"

Haru continued to study the room without uttering a word. There was a certain quietness and calm to him that made Sorae sense that he seemed more mature than the average boy of his age.

"Well, I won't move everything out if you see anything you like here. Go on, have a look around."

Haru slowly walked forward, curling his toes on the soft rug. He was used to the cold, hard hospital floor. He made for the crib and stood on his tiptoes to peek over. He reached in to pull out the plush toy of a killer whale, one almost as big as himself. He nearly tipped over and fell from its size and weight.

"You like it?" Sorae asked.

Haru hugged the toy tighter to his chest, and Sorae took that as a clear yes. She smiled. "Of course you can have it."

The boy set the plush orca carefully on the rug and returned to peeking over the crib. Sorae noticed that he ignored the toys of land animals, and pulled out only the toys based on marine animals. Soon a plush starfish, shark, penguin, and dolphin joined the orca on the rug. Sorae thought this very interesting. She figured that due to nearly drowning at sea, he wouldn't want to do anything with it. What he did with the toys seemed to indicate the opposite.

"Mackeral's ready!" Ken called from outside. "Come and get it!"

"We'll be right there!" Sorae called back. She looked down at Haru. "My husband loves to cook. That's partly why I married him," she joked. She took Haru by the hand again, this time he held the toy orca in his other hand the best he could. Ken looked up from his work by the grill and he smiled at the sight.

"Oh, looks like Haru made a new friend."

Sorae chuckled. "Yes, he really likes the orca for some reason."

At the backyard table, Ken pulled up an extra chair the same time he set down the plate of grilled mackeral. "Your orca can sit here, Haru."

The boy promptly placed the toy orca into the seat and settled down next to his new parents. He stared curiously at the plates and silverware laid out before him. Haru had never seen cooked fish before. His mouth watered when he got a whiff of its delicious aroma. Ken and Sorae saw that Haru didn't know how to use chopsticks, so they got him a spoon and planned to teach him later to keep him from getting hungrier. The fish and rice made for one of the best meals he ever had. The last meal he had this good was when his pod had a feeding frenzy over a school of tuna. He had a new family now, and he knew from the couple's kindness that they'd take good care of him.

Ken and Sorae in turn were overjoyed that they could finally raise a child of their own, even if Haru wasn't really theirs by blood.

When Haru finished eating, he remembered his manners. "Thank you for everything," he stated.

With firm affection, Ken placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. With tears tugging at the corners of her eyes, Sorae replied, "Welcome to the family, Haru."

* * *

><p>Haru was glad that he adjusted to human life at the early age Ken and Sorae had found him. He assumed that he'd look very strange trying to learn the basics as an adult. Ken and Sorae almost never got angry with him during their years of raising the boy. The closest they had ever gotten to anger was when Sorae had to scold him for bathing too long and wasting a lot of water. She initially stopped by his room to kiss him goodnight when she found Haru sitting in the bathtub, head submerged underwater for minutes on end. Sorae panicked and thought he had drowned. Haru emerged soaked and confused over why his mother worried over him. While relieved, Sorae had to give him a little lecture before having him get changed and ready for bed. When Haru went to sleep, the couple stayed up to review their bills that had come through the mail.<p>

"I thought that he didn't like water because of that stormy night," Sorae said. "It seems I'm wrong. On the contrary, he loves water, almost to the point that it'd be a problem if we can't restrain him from staying in it for too long."

"Haru would run our water bill off the roof if we didn't teach him to keep his baths and hand-washing short," Ken said with a laugh. "There's got to be a healthy outlet to his hydrophilia."

Sorae's face brightened and she clasped her husband's hand. "Ken, I have the perfect idea. After school, I'll take him to go watch a swim team practice. I'll bet my mother's hand-made good luck charms that he'd love it."


End file.
